Day: April 28, 2022

MANAMA 27 April 2022 – As the overseas voting period for the 2022 National Elections reaches its half-way mark, more registered Filipino overseas voters in the Kingdom of Bahrain continue to manifest their eagerness to participate in this democratic exercise by coming to the Philippine Embassy in Manama on weekends to cast their votes, particularly during the first two Fridays covered by the voting period.

The current voter turnout in the first two weeks of overseas voting is indicative of how kabayans in Bahrain recognize the importance of making their voices heard through their vote in the national elections.

The Philippine Embassy reiterates its call to registered Filipino overseas voters in Bahrain to exercise their right to vote. The Embassy is open for overseas voting daily from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM until 08 May 2022 and from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM on the last day of the voting period on 09 May 2022.

Source: Republic of Philippines Department Of Foreign Affairs

XIAMEN 27 April 2022 — In an effort to embark on more cultural and education cooperation and strengthening of people-to-people engagements, Philippine Consul General to Xiamen Maria Antonina M. Mendoza-Oblena led the Philippine Consulate General in Xiamen’s delegation on a meeting with the officials of Huaqiao University (HQU), Jimei, Xiamen campus on 21 April 2022.

The Consulate General’s delegation was warmly welcomed by HQU’s officials led by its Vice President, Mr. Wang Jianhua.

After the exchange of pleasantries. Mr. Wang shared the University’s brief history, programs and historical relations between the Philippines. He also expressed appreciation for the Philippines’ continued participation in its Chinese language program for government officials.

Since 2011, officers from Philippine National Police (PNP) and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) have been participating in the Foreign Government Officials’ Chinese Language Program at the Huaqiao University Chinese Language and Culture College in the Jimei, Xiamen campus. The latest batch of officers, due to the pandemic, remain in the Philippines and are taking their classes online.

Consul General Mendoza-Oblena also expressed her appreciation to Mr. Wang and HQU for the warm welcome and underscored the Consulate General’s continued support for and participation in its programs.

Mr. Wang was joined by Mr. Hu Pei’an, and Mr. Pan Xiaxing, Dean and Deputy Dean of Chinese Language and Culture College, respectively, Ms. Han Jiachen, Deputy Director, Office of International Exchange and Cooperation, Mr. Xie Wei, Deputy Dean, Preparatory Education College and Mr. Zhan Yuxin, Representative, Office of Huaqiao University in the Philippines while Post delegation include Ms. Elaine Mae V. Laruan-Hernandez, Vice Consul, Ms. Faith P. Bautista, Economic and Political Officer, Mr. Reigfred P. Albello, Cultural and Information Officer, Ms. Maria Regina V. de la Fuente, Passport and Consular Officer and Mr. Huang Fubin, Interpreter.

Also present during the meeting were Ms. Shen Yue, Representative of Xiamen Municipal People’s Government Foreign Affairs Office (Xiamen FAO) and four Filipino students – Ms. Czara Marie Ang, Ms. Aeriel Jane Acot, Ms. Christine Joy Estorco and Mr. Kian Artgold Dee – taking up Chinese Language and Culture.

The meeting with HQU officials was a vital part of the continued cooperation between the Consulate General and the university as well as the Philippines and Xiamen, Fujian – China relations.

Source: Republic of Philippines Department Of Foreign Affairs

OTTAWA, 28 April 2022 – Ambassador Rodolfo Robles led the Philippine Embassy’s first consular outreach mission in Hamilton, Bermuda on 21-24 April 2022 since the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted travel in March 2020.

Upon arrival, Ambassador Robles met with the members of the Filipino community in Bermuda who gladly welcomed his delegation. On 22 April, he met with Labor and Economy Minister Jason Hayward who informed that Bermuda enacted new labor laws that guarantees additional protection of labor rights in Bermuda, including rights of foreign workers.

Based on the latest available data, there are 1,300 Filipinos working in Bermuda. The Philippine Embassy has consular jurisdiction over Bermuda, an island overseas territory of Great Britain.

Source: Republic of Philippines Department Of Foreign Affairs

MOSCOW– The Philippine Embassy in Moscow’s outreach mission team flew nearly 5,000 miles and landed in the city of Yakutsk, capital of Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Russian Federation on the eve of the celebration of the 100th year of its foundation on 27 April 2022. Yakutsk was proclaimed as the coldest city on Earth, where temperatures drop below -50 degrees Celsius in wintertime in 2021.

The arrival of the team led by Third Secretary and Vice Consul Catherine Alpay, together with consular assistant, Attaché Joyce Sychangco and SBRCG member, Administrative Officer and Attaché Arneil Torres, was met with much celebration from the Filipino Community residing in Yakutsk.

After flying across six time zones right into to the heart of the Siberian tundra, the Embassy team to set up their equipment and election materials on the same day. They provided vital consular services that have been long-awaited by the Filipinos in Yakutsk.

The last Embassy mission was supposed to have taken place in March 2020, but was cancelled because of the Covid epidemic precautions and subsequent lockdown. The last time that the Embassy was able to send a consular outreach mission to Yakutsk was in June of 2019, well before the start of the 2022 overseas voter registration period and the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Embassy outreach mission renewed seventeen (17) passports, notarized three (3) legal documents, released OWWA ID cards, and received accomplished ballots of several overseas voters based in the city, a mere 450 kms. South of the Arctic Circle. The officers and members of the group “Filipino Community in Yakutsk, Russia”, the first official Filipino Community organization in the region, also took their oath as administered by Vice Consul Alpay.

“Transcontinental travel is just par for the course for our Embassy personnel to provide vital consular services to those who need them the most. There are Filipinos who cannot afford to travel to Moscow, so we in the Embassy shall bring our services to them,” said Ambassador Igor Bailen. The Embassy announced several outreach missions to be conducted in three countries – Russia, Armenia and Kazakhstan – during the second half of the overseas voting period. Consul General Robert Ferrer, SBRCG Chair also stated, “This mission to Yakutsk is special to us, as it is the first time in two years since we had consular services in Siberia. We are glad to bring to the isolated members of our Filipino Community there their ballots so they exercise their right of suffrage.”

Source: Republic of Philippines Department Of Foreign Affairs